Frugal innovation in energy transitions: insights from solar energy cases in Brazil

Abstract

Abstract This article refines our understanding of frugal innovation in geographical energy transitions research. Frugal innovation represents a strategic approach to solving local problems with limited resources through complexity reduction. The article analyses three frugal innovation cases from São Paulo, Brazil. For each case, the analysis focuses on specific resource-constrained local context conditions, actors’ frugal approaches to overcoming these conditions and multi-scalar resource mobilisation strategies to scale frugal solutions. The article concludes by identifying three roles of frugality in energy transitions: (i) outcome complexity reduction enables scalable model solutions; (ii) process complexity reduction enables industrially scalable production; (iii) a philosophy of complexity reduction enables scalable dissemination strategies.